PRO GOLF NOTES: Spieth might look at earlier start to his season

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

Tuesday

Sep 11, 2018 at 4:52 PMSep 11, 2018 at 5:15 PM

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Jordan Spieth shed a little insight on his expectations at the beginning of 2016 when he said his goals start with winning and include "being there" with a chance in a couple of major championships.

Two years later, he failed to win on the PGA Tour for the second time in six seasons. He was there with a chance at two majors, coming from nine back in the final round at the Masters to within one shot of the lead until a bogey on the 18th hole for a 64. At the British Open, he had a three-way share of the lead in the final round, fell back with bad swings and never caught up at Carnoustie.

The disappointment was missing the Tour Championship for the first time.

"I was in control of my own destiny and didn’t have it this week," said Spieth, the only player from the top 10 in the world who won’t be at East Lake.

It didn’t help that Spieth, for the second straight season, sat out the entire fall portion of the PGA Tour schedule. Setting him back even further was missing nearly an entire month with mononucleosis.

That means he will fall short of the minimum 25 tournaments required for those who didn’t add to the schedule an event they haven’t played in four years. Still to be determined is the punishment. This policy falls under a "major penalty," which comes with at least a $20,000 fine and a suspension of more than three tournaments, although the commissioner has the ultimate say and any suspension will not be in play.

It makes no sense to punish a player who is guilty of not playing enough tournaments by making him sit out even more.

More than money, what really hits home for a player like Spieth is time.

One option would be to increase the number of new events, and that might not be a problem. Even before Spieth was in jeopardy of missing the Tour Championship, he was contemplating adding as many as two North American stops in the fall. Spieth is getting married after the fall season and is like to pass on overseas travel this year.

That also would solve the problem of not starting a new year feeling as though he were behind. A tournament or two in the fall would give him a chance to make sure the new year starts in Hawaii.

Spieth could use a fresh start.

First, he has the Ryder Cup in France, in which he will not have competed in two weeks. More than not winning this year, Spieth was rarely close. In the 17 stroke-play events that he made the cut, he finished an average of 9.6 strokes out of the lead.

PRESIDENTS CUP

Cameron Smith is at the top of the Presidents Cup standings for the International team. Perhaps even more surprising is to see Thai players Thanyakorn Khrongpha and Rattanon Wannasrichan among the top eight automatic qualifiers.

OK, it’s early — very early.

Worth noting, however, is that along with giving the International team four captain’s picks for the December 2019 matches in Melbourne, Australia, the qualifications for the International team have been changed. Instead of taking the top players from the world ranking, the International team will be decided by world ranking points earned from the Dell Technologies Championship two weeks ago through the Tour Championship next August.

Thanyakorn won the ISPS Handa Match Play on the Japan Golf Tour. Rattanon won the consolation match.

PROGRESS VS RESULTS

Adam Scott missed the Tour Championship for the third time in the last four years, though he at least had a chance. He wasn’t even guaranteed to make the playoffs until a third-place finish in the PGA Championship, followed by a tie for fifth in The Northern Trust.

It did wonders for his confidence. And it started with seeing his name on the leaderboard.

"The game is not very different. But a result, when you’re in a results-driven industry, means so much," he said. "Sometimes you’ve got to fool yourself: ‘It’s about the process, it’s the process, the process.’ Well, after like six months, the process needs to yield some results. I was at that point. I needed a result."

The next step is winning, which he hasn’t done since back-to-back victories in the Florida swing in March 2016.

"I’m still about winning," Scott said. "But competing is also part of the result."

FATHER PEREZ

Pat Perez will never win as many majors as the 18 by Jack Nicklaus. Until the resurgence in his career the last two years, Perez had only played in 18 majors.

But he’ll have one thing in common with Nicklaus, who was famous for fainting at the birth of his five children.

"Passed out when they put in the epidural," Perez said. "They had to bring the smelling salts."

Perez withdrew from the final round of TPC Boston and got home in plenty of time for the Labor Day birth of their daughter, whom they named Piper.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

The ballots won’t be due until after the Tour Championship, but Aaron Wise would appear to be a lock for PGA Tour rookie of the year.

The 22-year-old Californian, who was born in South Africa, is the only rookie to reach the FedEx Cup finale at East Lake. That’s been the voting pattern, such as in 2015 when Daniel Berger reached the Tour Championship and won the award over Justin Thomas, who missed East Lake by a shot.

The last rookie award for a player not at East Lake was Chesson Hadley in 2014. He won the Puerto Rico Open that year. The last player to win rookie of the year without getting to East Lake or winning a tournament was Rickie Fowler in 2010.

Wise goes to East Lake at No. 21 in the FedEx Cup. He has a victory in the AT&T Byron Nelson and a runner-up finish at the Wells Fargo Championship. His other two top 10s were at a World Golf Championship and a FedEx Cup playoff event.

RECORD STREAK

Sungjae Im probably would have to win one of the last two Web.com Tour Finals events to set the single-season money record. He has $550,645, which is short of the $644,142 that Michael Sim of Australia won in 2009.

Im already has one record, though.

He won the opening event on the Web.com Tour in the Bahamas and was runner-up in the next one. For the rest of the year, no one caught him. Im, a 20-year-old from South Korea, has been atop the money list for 25 consecutive weeks.

Im also did well enough this year to play in two majors.

DIVOTS

Tiger Woods now has a 14-15 record on the PGA Tour when he has at least a share of the 18-hole lead. He opened with a 62 at the BMW Championship and finished in a tie for sixth. ... Ten players who have yet to win a tournament this season will be at the Tour Championship. That includes Woods, who had never made it to the Tour Championship without having won a PGA Tour event. ... Rory McIlroy says he will start next year on Maui for the Sentry Tournament of Champions. ... The Country Club of North Carolina will host the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2021.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Keegan Bradley was No. 66 in the world when he won the BMW Championship. It was only the fourth time in 47 tournaments that a player outside the top 50 won a FedEx Cup playoff event.

FINAL WORD

"He phrases stuff differently than he needs to at times, but the belief in what he’s doing is very important in this game." — Jordan Spieth, on how much he understands what Bryon DeChambeau is saying.

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